


Way to Keep A Promise

by Callisto_HK



Series: The Children Are Our Future [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Hurt Tony, Gen, Kid Abby, Kid Fic, Kid Kate, Kid Tim, Kid Tony, Tony Angst, Tony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs Father-Son Relationship, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-10 07:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12294795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callisto_HK/pseuds/Callisto_HK
Summary: Gibbs and Shannon love their kids; adopted or not! They both agree Tony and Abby are the best things that ever happened to them. It's just that, this morning, Gibbs is too exhausted to remember certain things...





	1. Chapter 1

"What's with all the noise and shouts?" Gibbs growled sleepily as he padded out of his room; feeling still totally drained from the last couple of sleepless nights.

It was almost ten in the morning, so it wasn't strange for the kids to be awake and running around; but he hadn't gotten to bed until 6 that morning, meaning he was too tired to think about the time.

His team had left town to work on a case in New York a few days back and had just returned that morning; exhausted and totally sleep deprived. The whole team had been given three days off and although he wasn't one to spend his days lazily in bed or burn daylight sleeping, after 4 days of close to no sleep, he'd decided that he'd sleep his whole time-off.

What he'd forgotten about, when he'd made that promise to himself, was that he was the father of two children and like that wasn't enough, two more kids were currently staying with them at his place and his wife was at work; that meant it was up to him to keep the kids alive; because seriously, if they were left to their own devices, they'd probably bring the whole house down and dance on its ashes; or well, it was the thing he'd dreamed about that morning when he'd tried to sleep and the noise had penetrated his tired mind.

At least Shannon had fed the kids before leaving for work and he hadn't been forced to get up at eight! He thought that it's really a wonder; when those kids had to get up early for school, they always had to drag them out of their beds, but when they had a vacation, they were up before dawn.

"Hey!" He shouted again when the kids didn't hear and answer him the first time.

"It's Tony's fault." Kate replied quickly as she saw the grumpy man.

"Of course it is." Gibbs growled under his breath and if he'd been more alert, he would've felt bad when Tony's eyes widened at hearing those words.

"I-"

"What've you done, now?" He cut the boy off and looked between him and the other kids, noticing Tim's watery eyes.

"Timmy just wanted to play with Tony's action figures, but Tony doesn't let him." Abby said, scowling at her brother.

"I'm _playing_ with them." Tony whined, taking a step away from the group.

"You just don't wanna share them." Kate rolled her eyes the way she'd seen her mother doing; feeling like she was much older and wiser than the rest of the kids. "You can play with something else. Why can't you let someone else play with your toys? You always take _our_ stuff and never listen when we say we don't like you to do that."

"I don't take them when you're playing with them." Tony argued; thinking about his own actions and still feeling sure that he'd never taken anything from anyone when they were using it.

"Tim is smaller than you; you can play later." Kate always felt she was in charge when Shannon wasn't around and she never failed to show it.

" _Tim_ can play with his own toys; these are mine."

"For God's sake!" Gibbs snapped at them; his patience wearing thin. "All the hubbub is just over some stupid _toys_? Tony, just give them to Tim and go do something else."

"But-"

"Give them to him." Gibbs growled impatiently. "Now!"

Looking thoroughly chastised and subdued, Tony handed his toys to the younger boy who was now grinning happily, sticking his tongue out at Tony.

"Now be quiet, all of you and let me get some sleep." He turned on his heel and went back to his room, slamming the door shut. He was asleep before his head touched his pillow.

The other kids looked at Tony triumphantly and all went to play in the backyard.

Tony just stood there for a couple more minutes, looking after them and then down at his now empty hands. Sighing, he went back to his room and crawled into his own bed. At least they couldn't take his bed from him.

_They... They couldn't, right?_

Swallowing with trepidation, Tony realized that they could do that, too. They were four now and if the Gibbs took one more kid in, then there won't be enough bed for all of them and that probably meant that they would take Tony's bed away from him so that the new kid could have a bed to sleep in.

Shaking his head, he considered that thought impossible. They wouldn't do that. They'd never take his bed away from him.

 _'But...'_ A voice protested in his head; ' _They've also told you that they'd never take your toys away from you either.'_

When he'd come to live with Gibbs and Shannon, he'd been too scared of touching anything, thinking that he'd be punished for it. Even when they bought him toys, he wouldn't play with them, thinking that it was a test to see if he'd give in and touch things that he wasn't supposed to touch.

He'd never had toys of his own before and his father always got mad at him if he caught him with one. Once, one of the house staff had bought him some really cool action figures, but when his father saw them, he threw them out, beat Tony for being a baby and fired the woman who'd bought them for him. More than anything, Tony was sad about the latter.

So, when the Gibbs bought him toys, he didn't touch them for the longest time. But one day, Gibbs came home with those cool action figures; just like the ones that Lily had gotten him before getting fired because of it; and even though Tony had been scared of playing with them, he hadn't been able to control himself and touched them; tracing his fingers over them longingly and imagined holding them.

Gibbs and Shannon sat with him patiently and finally when he didn't do anything but touch the toys, Gibbs had picked one of the toy soldiers and put it in Tony's small hand. That day, he told Tony that the toys were his and no one, _ever_ , would take them away from him; that he would never have to even share them with the others if he didn't want to and he could hold them forever and ever if that was what he wanted.

And to this day, three years later, he hadn't let those toys out of his sight unless he was at school. He just loved them and now that he'd gotten older, he looked at them as more than some toys that he'd once wished to have; now they were a reminder of what his new parents had given him and today, Gibbs had taken them away from him. Despite what he'd said that day, he'd made Tony give them away and even though Tony was old enough to know what Gibbs had done was very different than his father's action and that he hadn't thrown them away and had just made him share the toys, it still made him sad and mostly because Gibbs had forgotten his promise; he'd forgotten that he'd said he'd _never_ have to share those toys if he didn't want to and now he'd gotten angry at him for doing what he was given permission to do and had made him give them away.

Tony would happily share anything else he had with the others; just not those action figures; he couldn't separate from them; and now that Gibbs had forgotten his words and had taken this important thing from him, who could say he wouldn't forget other promises as well?

Well, he'd always suspected that his new life was too good to be true and knew it'd come to an end one day; he'd always expected to either wake up and find himself back in his real father's house, or see Gibbs sending him away. Maybe this was the beginning of it.

And while children are usually known for being over dramatic, making a mountain out of a molehill, nobody who knew about Tony's past could roll their eyes at those thoughts and call him oversensitive. He reacted unconsciously based on experience and in his experience and thoughts, nothing good lasted long and he wasn't worth anything good anyway.

...

It wasn't until 4 in the afternoon that Gibbs finally woke up from his deep slumber. Stretching his body, he got up from his bed and felt that although he was in immediate need of a cup of coffee _-or two, or three-_ , he was pretty much well-rested now and could, once again, think and function like a human-being.

Walking downstairs, he found a pot of Mac and Cheese on the stove, which while not full, contained enough food for him to have a good lunch.

He quickly grabbed the pot and started eating and he was almost done when he remembered that he was the only parent at home and Shannon wasn't supposed to be back for another two hours. That left him with the question that if Shannon wasn't back home, who'd made the food?

"Daddy!" Abby screamed happily as she ran to him and hugged his legs. "You're awake."

Promptly, he bent down and hugged his little girl back and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Hey, baby girl!"

"Are you feeling better? Because you were kinda not feeling well this morning."

Gibbs couldn't remember much about that morning; all he knew was that he'd woken up from all the noises; had somehow fixed the problem that now he couldn't even recall what it was, and had gone back to sleep.

"I'm good now. Thanks for asking."

The girl smiled happily and ran to the sink to grab a glass. Clearly she'd come back inside to get some water. Once she drank her water, she was about to go back outside when Gibbs' question stopped her.

"Hey, Abs! Who made lunch today?"

"Oh." Her eyes shone. "Tony did. It was awesome. Wasn't it? I loved it."

Smiling, he nodded. "Yes, it was great."

He hadn't even known that Tony knew how to cook, let alone making something that delicious; besides, wasn't Tony too young to play with the stove?

Well, the kids needed food and _he_ 'd been supposed to prepare it for them and yet he'd slept like a log; he couldn't blame Tony for going near the stove to prepare lunch and if the delicious food was anything to go by, then Tony clearly knew his way around a stove, which, considering Tony's previous home life, wasn't that odd.

Feeling guilty for not thinking about his kids and their lunch and needs, he decided to make Tony's favorite food for dinner to make it up to him for having his back like this.

Happy with his decision, he poured himself a cup of coffee; still not remembering and not even thinking about what had happened that morning.

**.**

**.**

**TBC ...**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think?
> 
> Just a reminder that kids, unlike us, don't forget promises easily -not that we do if we're the ones being promised something!-; somehow they remember promises for years and breaking them affects children more than we think.
> 
> .
> 
> And I still own nothing but my mistakes and the plot of my stories!


	2. Chapter 2

The next month, nobody remembered that day or cared about what had happened then.

Tim was back with his family for the moment and even Kate had gone home to be with her parents that weekend.

So, the only people left in the house were Jethro and Shannon and their two children.

It was a slow weekend and fortunately both parents had managed to free their weekend to spend it with the kids and get some rest.

"Jethro?" Shannon asked as she sat by her husband's side on the couch.

"Yeah?"

It was late Friday night and he was reading a book; so he wasn't completely focused on his wife to notice her thoughtful expression.

"Do you think there's anything wrong with Tony? I mean... Have you noticed anything different about him?"

Frowning, he momentarily took his eyes away from the words in front of him. "No. Why?"

"No reason really." She shrugged. "He just seems off to me."

"Off how?"

"Like..." She tilted her head. "Well, like he's kinda not himself."

Gibbs shook his head with a small frown on his face to show he didn't understand what she meant.

Her shoulders dropped. "I don't know really. I've just noticed that he seems to be always in his room, unless he's helping with the chores or watching TV with us. And every time I go to his room he's just reading a book and it's always the same book."

"What book is that?"

"Tom Sawyer."

"Yeah, I've always said we shouldn't let him read that book."

"It's literature, Jethro." She rolled her eyes.

"So is Moby Dick." He held up his own book. "Doesn't mean it's suitable for an 8 year old boy."

"What?" Shannon looked at him incredulously. "You can't compare those two."

"Have you _read_ Tom Sawyer, Shan?" Gibbs tilted his head. "Besides, Tony's hotheaded enough. He doesn't need to learn new tricks."

"First of all, he must've read that book hundreds of times; he won't learn anything new from it. Second of all, hotheaded? Tony's _not_ hothead."

"What if he thinks it's cool to have an adventure like that and runs away?"

"Tony wouldn't do that."

"He's already done that once."

"What? When?" She sat up straight, thinking there was something she wasn't aware of.

"He ran away from his father's house."

Shannon's jaw dropped. "Because he was being _tortured_ there."

Gibbs winced; totally convinced and a bit chastised. "Yeah." He sighed. "Guess it's a good thing he's heard Tom Sawyer's story back then." They both knew that one of his nannies had told him that story and that was why Tony loved that book so much. He'd been so happy when Shannon bought that book for him. Almost as happy as he'd been when Jethro got him those action figures.

"Anyway!" Shannon shook her head like she wasn't sure how they'd gotten to that point. "All I'm saying is that all the time, he's just sitting there reading that book. He already knows every word of it by heart. And it's really not healthy for a boy his age to be sitting in one place all the time. He should be running around, going outside, playing with kids his age."

She had a point and it made Jethro think. Racking his brain, he realized that he couldn't really remember the last time he'd seen Tony playing with his toys, either. Not even with his action figures.

"Do you think he might be depressed?" Shannon was still talking.

"Huh?" He shook his head to refocus. "But why? He was fine. Things have been fine."

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But you agree with me, right? That he seems off!"

"Now that you've mentioned... Yeah, he does."

"Do you think we should ask him?"

"Do you think he'd actually answer?" Gibbs asked. "That boy can teach _me_ a lesson or two about deflection and that's when he's willing to actually talk."

"Hmm, you've got a point."

"OK, let's look at this like a case." He turned around in his seat to face his wife; putting his book away.

"What? Like one of your cases or mine?"

"Is there any difference?"

"Well, _we_ look for symptoms."

Gibbs raised his eyebrow. "And we look for evidence. Both are the same."

"Fine. Let's find the culprit." She rubbed her hands together and got ready.

Suppressing his smile, Gibbs asked the first question. "When did you first notice that something was off with him?"

Touching her chin, Shannon thought for a few seconds. "Hard to say; but it could go back to a couple of weeks ago; a month maybe. I don't think it's longer than that."

"Hmm. Let's say a month. And what has he been doing exactly during this month?"

" _You_ 're gonna make a good team leader one day, Gunny." Shannon laughed. "Let me see; he always offers to help me with the chores. He does some of them without asking; like the other day I saw him washing the dishes and a few times I've found him folding the newly washed clothes. Sometimes when we're all there, he sits with us to watch TV. When he's free he's in his room and every time I've seen him there he's only holding that one book." She thought some more and seemed to be unable to come up with any other thing. "What about you? Can you think of him doing anything else?"

Gibbs looked up at the ceiling and tried to remember everything about the last few weeks. "OK. So I haven't seen him playing with his toys; I've found him reading his book a couple of times and-" he side glanced at his wife, "I never paid any attention to what book it was; so I don't know if it's been the same one or not."

Wrinkling her nose, she said, "And that's why you still have got a _long_ way to go before becoming that team leader I just mentioned."

Jethro chuckled at that. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I always am." She smiled cheekily. "Anything else?"

"I don't know." He narrowed his eyes and tried to think of other stuff. "I've seen him doing the dishes. Oh, he even once made lunch."

"He did?"

"Yeah, Mac and Cheese. And let me tell you, it was _amazing_." He had this look on his face like he was once again tasting the food and was enjoying it.

"Seriously? Why can't _I_ remember that?"

"Oh," The man looked at her kinda sheepishly, "I may have forgotten to leave you any."

"You..." She shook her head, looking amused. "You _forgot_? You mean you got carried away and ate the whole thing?"

"Hey, there wasn't much to begin with." He protested. "The kids had already eaten most of it when I got up from bed and I was really hungry." He paused, "We could always ask him to make it again and then you can taste it, too."

Making a face at her husband, she sighed. "Whatever. Why would he even make lunch? The kids are never alone."

"Yeah, about that;" Jethro bit his lip. "I... You remember the day I got back from NYC and was really tired?"

"Yeah?"

"So, I _might_ 've overslept a bit and so..." At the accusing glare from his girl, he gave up on beating around the bush. "Fine, I overslept, forgot about the kids and thankfully Tony didn't let them go hungry and really, if they'd woken me up, I _would_ 've made them lunch, but when I got up it was already 4 in the afternoon and they'd had their lunch."

Grabbing the book from where Jethro had put it before starting their investigation, she hit him with it on the nose. "Bad boy."

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"So, that's it? That's all you remember?"

"Yeah."

"OK, so, we've got nothing? He helps with the house chores; watches TV; reads his book and never plays? So much for solving this like a case. We're exactly where we were half an hour ago and you were still reading your book then."

"Hey, how's that _my_ fault?"

" _You_ 're the investigator. Shouldn't you be able to solve something like this?"

Inhaling deeply, Gibbs tried to find a way around the problem, because now, he, too, needed to know why Tony had suddenly felt it was time to grow up. "So if this's been going on for about a month, it could have something to do with Kate and Tim. Can you think of any changes in the other kids' behaviors?"

Shannon pondered for a while and then finally shook her head. "Not really."

They both sat there and silently thought for some minutes, looking at the situation from every angle they could imagine.

"Jethro?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something else."

"What?"

"Tony's action figures."

"What about them?"

"They're missing." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, that must be it. You know he loves them more than anything else he owns; he wouldn't let them out of his sight; we had trouble stopping him from taking them to school with him. And now they're nowhere to be seen. That's why this whole situation seems off. He's not playing with them."

Jethro narrowed his eyes. Shannon was right about their son and those plastic toys. But there was something else that was bothering him about the missing toys that he couldn't put his finger on.

"Do you think he's lost them?" She asked absently. "Maybe he's lost them and he's sad about it and that's why he doesn't play with anything else; or maybe he's afraid we'd get mad if he told us and that's why he's become so quiet."

Gibbs got up and started to pace up and down; there were images in his head that he couldn't decipher; like a vague memory.

Shannon noticed the change in her husband's behavior. "What's it? Do you know something?"

Gibbs shook his head. "I don't know. I feel like there's this thing but-" He suddenly stopped.

"What?"

"Crap!"

"What? What's it?" She stood up quickly and walked to him.

"Remember the day I came back from that assignment in NYC?"

"You mentioned it literally three minutes ago, Jethro." She pointed out.

"Yes, the same day Tony made lunch because I was too tired to even think about our kids." He winced.

"And?"

"And I apparently had been more tired than I imagined."

"Meaning?"

"I can't believe I forgot this. I... I can't believe I did this."

"Did what? Jethro, for God's sake; just spit it out."

"Hey I'm trying." He groaned. "That morning I woke up to the kids making all kinda crazy noises and when I demanded an answer I was told that apparently Tim had wanted to play with Tony's action figures and Tony was refusing to let him play with them."

Shannon's eyes narrowed; she could already see where this story was going. "Let me guess; you forced Tony to give them to Tim?"

Gibbs nodded with a wince.

"You forced Tony, the boy who was afraid to _touch_ his toys when he first came to us because he'd never been allowed to have toys, to give his favorite toys away?"

Jethro averted his gaze. "Well, I just _told_ him; I didn't _force_ -"

"Jethro!" Shannon threw her hands in the air. "Same difference. No wonder that boy has stopped playing altogether."

"Tim just wanted to-"

"Don't!" Shannon cut him off harshly. "You remember, don't you?"

"Remember what?" He asked indignantly.

Shannon's voice was icy when she answered. "That those were the first toys he ever touched. That he loved them so much he wouldn't let go of them. That you _promised_ him that no one, ever, would take them away from him and if he didn't want to, he didn't have to share them or give them to anyone. You remember that. Right?"

Of course he remembered. Gibbs wanted to snap that he did. Except... Maybe he hadn't remembered it when it'd mattered.

Shaking her head with disappointment, Shannon sank back into the couch. "You broke your promise to him, Jethro. And we both know it's now more than about some plastic toys."

"I didn't mean to." He said quietly. "The kids said... They-"

"The _kids_ said? We both know they can push Tony into a corner when they want to. We've already talked about how they sometimes gang up against Tony and how Tony just lets them because he doesn't want to end up alone."

"Well-"

"Yeah, guess when you're tired you forget that, too, huh?" She glared at him and then rubbed her forehead with two fingers. "Jethro, they were Tony's toys; no matter what everyone else said, you should've asked _him_ what he wanted to do. You could've made Tim go play with something else."

"He's younger."

"So?" Shannon glared. "It's not like Tony was bullying him. He was just guarding his own toys."

"I didn't think it could get like this." He moaned.

"Doesn't matter, Jethro." She said coldly. "If you break one promise; a really important promise like that, who's to say you won't break other promises?"

Gibbs' head snapped towards her; hurt was evident in his eyes. "I'd never do that."

"Face it, Jethro, you already did." Shannon was sad for her husband, too. "I know you didn't do it on purpose and I know you wouldn't break any important promises; but Tony doesn't know that. To him, this was an important promise that you broke; to him it's like he lost those action figures the first time around; when his father threw them away." They'd managed to pull that story out of Tony one night after a bad nightmare.

"And now he doesn't play with anything else because he thinks he doesn't deserve to have toys." Gibbs concluded, already feeling shitty. "I took his favorite toys away and gave them to Tim. All because I was too tired to think and just wanted to get back to sleep."

Feeling bad for the love of her life, Shannon pulled his hand and made him sit with her. "Everyone makes mistake, Hun."

"How can I fix this?"

"Where are those toys, anyway? Did Tim give them back?"

"I don't know. Haven't seen them around."

"We should talk to him." Shannon finally offered, knowing that sitting there and feeling bad about the whole situation wouldn't change a thing.

"No. _I_ should talk to him."

"Jehtro-"

"No, Shannon. This is my mess and I'll fix it up and besides, you didn't do anything wrong; I did and Tony needs to know that I do remember my promise and I feel bad for breaking it."

"Yeah... It's... A bit late; I mean you did forget your promise-"

"I already feel really shitty." Gibbs growled.

"Sorry. Sorry." Shannon apologized quickly. "But... You kinda deserve it."

"I know." Jethro said, sounding defeated. "I screwed up."

"Just a little bit. But hey, you're only human." She tried to help. "Just, next time, don't let it go for a whole month, huh?"

"Oh, shit." Gibbs dropped his head to his chest. "I put him through this for a whole _month_ and even now _you_ had to point it out for me to notice."

"Hey, no one can blame you. You're not a woman." She said; her tone light and teasing.

That brought a small smile to Gibbs' face. "Yeah, when we screw up we screw up royally."

Nodding sagely; she patted his shoulder. "We still love you, even though sometimes you're _too_ single-minded."

"Thank God for that." Chuckling, he shook his head. "Seriously, Shan; thanks. I... I don't know-"

"Shhh, it's alright. Just fix our son. Huh?"

"You got it."

"That's my boy." She kissed him lovingly and then pulled him up so they could go to their bedroom and sleep; poor Jethro was going to have a tough day the coming morning.

**.**

**.**

**TBC ...**

**.**


	3. Chapter 3

"I found them."

Shannon wasn't even completely awake yet and Jethro was complaining about something already!

Checking the time, she realized that for once, it wasn't too early, though, so she couldn't send Jethro away.

"Shan?"

"Yes, baby? Good morning to you too." She moved her hair out of her face and rubbed her eyes. "What have you found now?"

"You really mistake me for Abby, sometimes, you know that?" Jethro growled good-naturedly before he remembered what he'd found and why he'd woken his wife up. Holding something in front of Shannon's face, he waited for her to notice it. "Found one."

Blinking a few times, Shannon was finally able to focus on the figure in front of her. "Oh." Her eyes widened as their talk from last night came to her mind. "Oops; doesn't look salvageable." The action figure in her husband's hand was muddy, deformed and missing a leg. "He was a good man." She said sadly.

"Shannon!" Gibbs growled and heavily sat on the bed. "I found it in the back yard. I think a dog has used it as a chew toy."

"It had a good life?" She yawned; still not fully awake.

"Make sure to remind Tony of _that_. I'm sure he'd feel really consoled."

That seemed to do the trick as she became more alert. "Tony'll be even more desolated now."

Jethro sighed; feeling even guiltier than before.

"You think Tim's left it there?"

"Well, _I_ didn't! And I'm sure Tony hasn't seen it since I made him give it away."

"Well, looks like the next time Tim is back, we gotta have a talk with him, too." Shannon stated seriously and sat up. "He gotta learn that if he's trusted with someone else's stuff, he has to return them in the exact shape he'd gotten them in the first place; and he gotta understand there'll be consequences for things like this."

Jethro agreed with her one hundred percent and absently wondered whether or not Tony knew this would happen when he'd been refusing to share his toys. He knew Tony didn't mind sharing his stuff; he'd seen him sharing his toys, books and everything else with Abby before and he knew Tony even lent some of his toys and books to his friends at school. So, either this set was too special and precious to him or he knew little Tim wasn't old enough to be trusted like that. Either way, he'd messed up by not trusting his son's judgment and ordering him to do something against his will.

He hoped Tony would wake up sooner, so that he could go talk to him. He was kinda feeling like a little boy who had to admit to his parents that he'd made a big mistake.

"Hey, sounds like the kids are awake." Shannon heard some noises coming from downstairs. "Let's go have some breakfast first and then you can take Tony shopping."

"You think I can replace this?" He held the ruined toy up and assessed it.

"That's the best you can do." She shrugged; then patted his arm. "But don't worry, honey. Tony's really forgiving. And when it comes to serious stuff, he's way older than his real age says. He'll understand. Just explain it to him like it is and make sure he knows you just messed up and forgot about the importance of his toys, not the deeper layers of the promise you made all those years ago."

"You sure you can't-"

"Oh, grow up, Jethro!" She rolled her eyes. "You gotta learn to actually open up every now and then. Those kids are not soldiers and I can't always translate everything you're thinking to them and everyone else. Oh, and tell Tony I said you'll answer to me next time you break a promise. He'll feel safer that way."

Jethro gulped; yup, he was screwed! If there was one person in the whole world that he was actually afraid of, it'd be Shannon and she clearly knew it.

...

When Tony was told that he was going to go shopping with his dad, he didn't ask any questions; he figured that he was going to help the man and while, secretly, he was happy about it, because he loved spending time with his daddy; he kept it to himself; afraid that the man wouldn't approve of those feelings.

When they got to Walmart and went straight to the toy department, Tony faltered a bit; but then he silently scolded himself, telling himself that Gibbs might want to buy a toy for Abby and he couldn't show how much it hurt him to go there.

His dad, however, didn't take anything for Abby; he went to a shelf and took a set of action figures just like the one he used to have. He'd seen a couple of those plastic toys in their back yard, but hadn't touched them; they were thrown away; like his first set; that meant they weren't his anymore and he'd never been allowed to touch things that weren't his.

Tony was aware that his dad was eyeing him from the corner of his eyes; he'd learned the hard way to always be aware of his surroundings and now he always knew who was watching him. He didn't comment on his dad's selection, though; he deliberately kept his eyes away from the man and studied his feet, waiting for him to be done with his shopping; suddenly he didn't want to spend any more time with his dad.

"Ah, would you please hold this?" Gibbs quickly put the set into Tony's hands and before Tony could do anything he was holding them. He eyed them carefully and thought he'd love to play with them; but after a few seconds, he realized that no, he didn't want to play with them anymore. These weren't his toys; _his_ were thrown away and ruined and he really didn't want anything anymore. He wasn't sure why Gibbs was buying them, though; it was possible that he wanted them for Tim for when he was coming back to stay with them again.

To Gibbs' disappointment, Tony didn't show anything when he held the toy. He stared at them for some seconds and then looked away; nothing like the first time he'd gotten him his first, or well, _second_ , set of action figures. That one had been an ice breaker; this one seemed to be working exactly the opposite way.

Sighing, he took a couple more toys from different shelves, both for Tony and Abby; picked some stuff for the house; led his son to the cashier; paid for the toys and then led Tony outside with a hand on his shoulder.

He wanted to start the conversation, but he didn't know how and before he knew it, they were back at home. Tony, obediently, helped with the stuff they'd bought and once they were on the table inside, he walked up to his room.

"What happened? I thought you were going to talk to him." Shannon asked with a hint of concern.

Rubbing his face with both hands, Jethro shook his head. "It didn't come up."

"It _didn't_ come up?" She asked incredulously. "He's 8 years old, Jethro! You're his _d_ _ad_! How do you expect something that is an issue for him to _come_ _up_? Did you even exchange a _word_ with him?"

When Gibbs only looked guiltier, Shannon growled with exasperation and called out for Tony and asked him to come down please.

"Hey! Here?" Jethro eyed her worriedly.

Shannon waved his concern away. "Easy! Abby's gone to play with her friend. It's just us."

A few seconds later, Tony was standing between them, looking at them with confusion and amusement; apparently he'd sensed that his mom wasn't happy with his dad.

"Hey, honey." Shannon smiled at him to make it clear that he wasn't the one in trouble. "You went back to your room so quickly that your daddy didn't get the chance to talk to you about what he wanted to."

"Sorry." Tony's eyes shot up to his dad, who looked guilty and forlorn. "What's wrong?"

"I've done something really stupid and I don't even know how to fix it." Jethro replied, sotto voce.

"How can I help?" The boy asked, determined to do whatever it took to help his parents.

"Ah, I gotta go pick Abby up from her friend's house; can you take care of him?" Tony was surprised to see the question was aimed at him.

Baffled, he pointed a finger at himself and raised his eyebrows.

"Uh-huh." Shannon grinned and then lowered her voice like if she whispered, Jethro wouldn't hear her. "He's kinda scared."

" _He_ 's still in the room." Gibbs groaned and sat down.

Tony grinned slightly and just nodded at his mother; admitting to himself that he had yet to get used to the way these two treated each other.

Shannon ruffled his hair and without a look towards Gibbs, grabbed her handbag and walked out. Before closing the door behind herself, though, she called out. "We're taking the kids to the movies tonight. Don't forget _that_ , Jethro!"

Her tone of voice suggested that he'd better have things fixed before that.

"Is she mad at you?" Tony asked quietly.

"She's upset because I'm being a coward." The man admitted sheepishly.

Tony's eyes widened. "But you're the bravest person I know."

Gibbs smiled ruefully, "Thanks for the voice of confidence, buddy; but to tell you the truth, _you_ 're _it_ from where I'm standing."

Tony tilted his head. Surely Gibbs didn't mean that he was the bravest person-... No, that wasn't possible. "What?"

"You, Tony! You're the bravest person I know."

"I'm only 8." He stated flatly.

"Thank you; yes; I'm well aware of that. It doesn't change anything."

"I haven't even been out of this side of country."

Gibbs patted the couch next to himself to indicate that he wanted Tony to sit next to him. "You're brave because you've gone through so much already and have come out stronger. You're 8, true; but even _you_ can't tell me you still haven't seen anything and I admire it about you and admire your big heart." He really liked it that he could hold intelligent conversations with his son; it was sad that Tony knew so much more than he should and was way older than his actual age; but at times, it made things way easier for his parents; they could talk to him without feeling the need to sugarcoat things or try to find simple words that a kid his age could understand; like now, he was sure Tony knew what he meant.

His son's eyes were wide; his mouth agape; but the gratitude and pride that were lingering behind the ever present doubt in his eyes warmed Gibbs' heart.

"I'm a coward because I've been trying to tell you something, but I don't know how. I'm afraid I might fail again."

"What?" Tony was frowning again; looking like he was totally lost.

Reaching towards the plastic bag on the table, Gibbs pulled out the new set of action figures and held it to Tony. "This is yours."

The boy quickly looked down and his face fell.

Gibbs pushed it towards him, but Tony's little hands went back and he shook his head.

"Remember I said I've done something stupid?" He asked and didn't wait to get an answer, "This is it. I screwed up when I made you share your toys with Tim. I'm sorry."

Tony shook his head again and then swallowed to be able to speak. "No. It's OK. You were right."

"No, I wasn't." Gibbs stated firmly. "The day I got you that toy, I told you that you could keep it forever and you didn't even have to share it if you didn't want to; but I forgot it and made you do exactly what I said I wouldn't." He took a deep breath and continued, "I know this is not gonna be like the last one; I know it's just not the same and believe me, I'll have a serious talk with that little boy when I see him again; he had no right to destroy your toys; he had to take care of them and now he's gonna be grounded when he comes back; but that's not the point; the point is I shouldn't have made you share them in the first place. You see, the thing is we, grownups, tend to mess up a lot; we also have trouble remembering important things when we don't get enough sleep. At least _I_ 'm like that."

"Huh?" Tony frowned; Gibbs was jumping from one thing to another; something that he usually didn't.

Chuckling, Gibbs said, "The day I acted like a giant moody bear? That day I was really really tired. I haven't slept for days and my brain had kinda left the building."

"Oh!" It was all Tony said.

"Yeah, not my best moment." Gibbs sighed. "You asked how you could help me fix things; you can do that by giving me another chance."

Tony's eyes immediately went to the toy that was pushed into his hands.

"By accepting that," The father nodded to the toy, "And by believing me when I say I didn't mean to break my _promise_ to you. That promise still stands, Tony. Noting will change _that_." He knew Tony'd understand what he was talking about.

Tony's hopeful gaze locked on his eyes.

"I didn't even realize what toys you were holding, that day; but whatever you own is _yours_ ; I shouldn't have meddled like that; I think I was pretty much sleepwalking." He explained further. "That's why it took me this long, and of course your Mom's help, to remember I've made a big mistake and I needed to apologize; the events of that day were a blur." Pausing, he smiled. "Actually, there's only _one_ thing that I _clearly_ remember about that day; you know what it is?"

Tony silently shook his head.

"Your Mac and Cheese! Man, that was _amazing_."

Tony's eyes shone with delight at the high praise and he smiled shyly.

"I _loved_ it. Where did you learn how to make it so perfectly? No, don't answer that; just make more of it. Will you?"

Tony chuckled. "Really?"

"Well, I should help you with the stove part, but yes. Your mom was so upset when she heard about it and realized that I've eaten the whole thing and haven't left her anything." Casting a quick glance towards the door, he made sure they were still alone, before continuing in a hushed tone, "I told her that there wasn't much to begin with, so she wouldn't kill me for not leaving her anything. Don't tell her that I just ate the whole thing because I couldn't control myself."

Tony was laughing now; glad that he'd done something to make his dad so happy.

"You'll make more, right? Like; like can you make some tonight?"

"Sure." The boy chuckled.

"Although, you'll probably regret making it in the first place when we keep asking for it. But hey, your fault!"

"I don't mind." Tony smiled widely.

"Also, thanks for it." Jethro added sincerely. "Not just because it tasted so good; also for having my six like that. I'd never want you kids to go hungry and well, don't wanna know what Shannon would've done to me if you all had gone hungry, just because I was dead to the world."

Tony cringed slightly at the choice of words and Gibbs noticed it; cursing himself when he remembered, belatedly, that the little boy was still reminded of his real mother whenever dying was mentioned somewhere, figuratively or not. So, he quickly changed the subject. "So, uh, do you think you can like this new set as much as the first one?" It was his way of asking if the boy still trusted him and his words.

Tony contemplated a couple of seconds before he finally let his fingers trace over the figures again; biting his lip, he looked up and stared the man in the eyes; the determination that he saw in those blue eyes and the way he'd talked and apologized more than made up for the harsh action of last month. It proved that things were different here and he was thankful for it. "They're really cool. Thanks." He whispered.

Gibbs pulled his son into a fierce hug, "Do me another favor?" He waited until he felt the boy nod against his chest. "Next time I forgot a promise, to you or to anyone else you know, write it down on a piece of paper and stick it to my forehead."

Tony chuckled. "That way only the others will remember it."

Frowning, Gibbs thought about it and then shrugged. "Yeah, well, your mom will remind me once she sees it and boy, let me tell you this, she won't be subtle."

Tony's laughter loosened the tight grip of guilt that had wrapped around his heart and he finally breathed easily. Shannon was right, this boy was damn forgiving; but hey, he'd been right, too; this boy was also really brave and strong and owned the biggest heart he'd ever seen in anyone.

They'd gotten truly lucky when it came to their children.

**.**

**.**

**The End...**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think?
> 
> Friendly reminder that the next story will have a new story-line; totally unrelated to this story or the ones before this.
> 
> Thank you all for your kudos, support, attention and kind words.
> 
> .
> 
> I still don't own the show and its characters and all mistakes are mine.


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